very nice! I would live in it... haunted or not.

Let me tell you how this project started, first.

My brother and I own the property and house. He's always busy, and so am I. We're never up at the King's place. Dad rented the house, dirt cheap! And they were to keep the place, respectable, and do whatever maintenance needed.

Well, a few years ago, I went up and the metal roof was showing more rust than paint.

That kind of got under my skin. You can't let a house go for 25 or 30 years and not fix anything.

Without a good foundation and good roof, a house will go to hell quick.

I won't say anything bad about the man, because he's not here to defend himself.

But I walked around the house one evening, and didn't like what I'd seen.

Long story short, I sent word to the man that we needed to talk. Dad was a very easy going man, and so am I and my brother. But at the same time, we're not going to let someone step on us.

I'll give details of his and my last conversation in the morning.

The house rent was $500. $500 per year! And Mom and Dad were paying the electric bill. That's cheap. A medium sized storage unit will cost you more than that.

The man (Bill) that had the place rented, stopped by one evening and we talked. Bill had his checkbook in his hand. And he told me that he'd like to rent the place one more year.

He told me the floors are getting "springy", the foundation was about gone. He said: "That old house is only going to be there another couple years".

I was thinking to myself as we talked, (you know a little maintence now and then, would go a long way). So, Bill offered to double the rent to $1000. Per year.

We had a good talk, but I told him that I didn't want to rent the place. We'd just keep it for our families.

Go up and look at the first picture I posted. It's hard to see, but on the right side of the house is a 150 or 200 gallon water tank, sitting there on a platform. They had water gravity fed into the kitchen sink. And when the sinks drain line got stopped up or colapsed? Some genius decided to just crawl under the house and cut it off.

So, who knows how many hundreds of gallons of dirty sink water drained under the kitchens foundation. That kind of pissed me.

But, you know how some renters are "It's not mine, I don't care". It's just an old shack.

But I'll tell you a little bit about the house. At one time we had 5 hydraulic jacks under the house. A little bit here and a little bit there. We had it creaking and cracking.

I've lost count of the bags of concrete we mixed in a wheel barrow. It's around 75 or so?

We did replace the foundation of the kitchen. It's sitting on concrete now.

The floors in rooms 1-A, 1-C, 2-A and 2-C were all just rough sawed lumber. Pretty rough stuff too.

The beams (floor joists) under the front room and kitchen were logs. Flat-sided on the top. Hand hewn. Some oak, some pine and a couple American Chestnut. Saved them.

But the kitchen floor today, is 3/4 tonge-groove Advantec, sitting on 2X12's. Front room floor is the same sitting on 2X10's. And room 2-C's floor is 5/8's plywood on new 2X6's.

All of the 2" stuff is rough sawed.

The floors aren't "springy" anymore!

About the little porch on the back, there's no cellar. Very very little crawl space under the house. We just built the porch, it's only 6' X 8', give or take. We just built it there to keep the rain off of the kitchen door.

The house is almost sitting on the ground.

I had to crawl under the bathroom and front room the other day to run the gas line for the fireplace thing. Was bruised up, scratched up, wet and muddy. My head carpenter, Wardney, made me ride on the tailgate down to the river.

But we got her done!

Here's on my favorite things about the King's house. See that line of trees, down across the bottom fields? That's the river, and the county road is on the other side. It's very very quiet, and when it gets dark, it's dark.



But I wanted to tell you guys a few things that we've done to the house. I've learned quite a bit on this project. And maybe some of you can get an idea for your projects.

Part of the old house does look fancy, but it's not. Everything was bought on a budget.

I'll start out in the kitchen. The walls are just a "better grade" of plywood. We sanded them down, put on a coat of polyurethane, let it cure, and lightly sanded it again. Wiped them off, and put on another coat of varnish.

The walls are smooth, and will be easy to clean. And a gallon of varnish goes a long way.

Room 2-B (part of the framed section), the outside walls weren't insulated. It had 2 or 3 layers of wall paper, once it was off, you could see daylight in some spots.

It's a small room to start with, but we put 1/2" styrofoam on the walls, and taped the joints. Then put on the "Luwan" (sp). It's just a thin plywood.

Lightly sanded it, with a vibrating sander, probably 150 or 180-grit sandpaper? That's a quick job. Wipe it down with a damp rag, let it dry and then varnish. That's "semi-gloss" polyurethane in room 2-B.

And the baseboard and trim molding, that's all just 1"X4" pine boards. We'd set the saw on a 45* and split them. Nothing fancy. And we took a screwdriver and stuffed fiberglass insulation, into every little crack. The wind doesn't blow through that room anymore.

But notice the little oak table in room 2-B. It had 2 big circle shaped stains, and lots of spots. Not sure, but it looked like someone had set a hot/greasy skillet or pot on the thing?

A friend of mine came to visit. He said to sand down the table top, wipe it off and make it wet with bleach, let it dry over night and repeat. Forget, but I sanded and bleached it 3 or 4 times? Then gave it 2 or 3 coats of glossy varnish. Guys, that's a beautiful little table today!

Room 2-C, was never finished inside, at the start of this job, it was piled completely full of crap. Old bed springs, tractor parts, just overall junk, you name it.

But it turned out to be the nicest room in the house, except maybe the kitchen? Or maybe the front room. I like them all.

But as someone mentioned above, it's just a shame to let these old "shacks" fall down.

If the old house is better than 100 years old now, it should last a little while longer with it's remodel.

I'll add a few more pictures of earlier work, but I'm still pecking away at the old shack.















Just a little bit more work, and I'll declare this job finished!

It looks like Heaven! You are a lucky man!

I'll add a few more pictures of room 2-C, this is the room with a history.








This is the room that was never finished, these pictures were from April, 2013.

While I've got a little time to kill this morning, I'll comment again. The last 3 pictures I posted are of room 2-C, the room over the kitchen.

Notice the styrofoam overhead, there's a "flea market" type of place near here, and they sell the 4' X 8' sheets for $5 each. That's 2" thick. Sure does make a mess cutting it with a circular saw, but good insulation. Used a bunch of fiberglass too. That room is sealed up tight, will be easy to heat. And found some used double-pane windows, cheap. I think it was $65 total for 3 windows.

But I wanted to tell you why some folks think the old shack is haunted.

Everyone that you talk to will give you a slightly different version. But, I'm 99% certain that a lady was found deceased in the house. I've been told that she was found room 2-C. I guess the old timers thought that it was taboo, to go use the room. Maybe the reason that it was never finished?

Rumor goes like this: A man confessed to bonking the woman on the head with a stick of firewood. I have no idea what year that was. Not sure if the case went to trial? Apparently, the charges were brushed-under the rug. Maybe he was a "somebody"? Never know?

But the house is build in the shape of a reversed "L". Once you get to the top of the stairway, there's no hallway. To get to room "C", you walk throught "A" and "B". Thinking about it today, if someone threatened a person, room 2-C would be your final refuge. A place where you'd have to make your final stand.

Just about everyone that would have "quality" second-hand information is dead. The last living descendent of the King family is in her 90's, in a nursing home today. I've met Mable King lots of times, we just never talked about what happened at the house.

I know a lady that works at that nursing home, and she's going to find out for me. Just interesting.

But I went up to the house the other night after work, it's only 18 minutes up the road, and fixed my supper. I fried 3 hotdogs and nuked a bowl of soup, washed my dishes and then sat in the rocking chair watching the gas fireplace thing till bedtime.

It'd been a long day! But I slept in room 2-C that night, best night's sleep I'd had since the last time I stayed at the King's house. It's peaceful up there! And still haven't had any spooky encounters, but it's almost Halloween.

Well, I got word from my nurse friend that works at the nursing home, and Ms. King's mind is not as sharp as it used to be. So, we'll probably never know the real story.

She's just a tiny little lady, I'd guess, maybe in her prime she'd weigh 120 pounds. Sweet and polite, never married and no kids.

But I wanted to tell you, our deer season started 11/25/13, (last Monday). After all of the work and sweat spent on this little job, now it's time to enjoy the place.

My bud Moe and I, hunted together 5 days last week. Wednesday, with a late start, Moe met me at the King's house. We've got around 13,000 acres to hunt on, within 10 miles of the house. I went up early, fired up the gas fireplace thing, it was chilly inside. We made a little hunt Wednesday evening, I saw one deer. Not sure what?

We had a few friends stop to visit, before we fixed supper. "Moe's braised deer heart". Guy's, if you're leaving your deer hearts in the gut-pile, you're wasting some tasty meat. (We just happened to have 2 fresh deer hearts.)

Very simple recipe. An onion, a green pepper, carrots, heart meat (peeled and cleaned) and a pound of noodles. When the carrots are cooked, fry the meat, in the same skillet with a cup of wine, and serve over the noodles.

With hot rolls, that's a good meal.